Sibling Rivalry
by Shadowgeist1204
Summary: "It's always Mama's Boy vs. Daddy's Girl in our family, Zachary. At least I know that our last name is Seshin, not Varmitech."
1. 1st-Person Prologue

I'm running away from home.

I can't take this anymore! Mom's always knocking me around when Dad isn't there to help me! And every time my twin brother comes home to visit, he brings along an animal-powered robot that I always have to save and set free! And once said animal is free, I get an especially bad beating from them both! But at least if I leave, I won't have to be afraid to do what I know is right.

My name is Akira Seshin, and my brother is Zach Seshin, though he uses Varmitech as an alias. At least I'm a lot more human than Zach and his whacked-out triangle head, too-oily hair, acid-green eyes, and totally sadistic nature. Yes, my long hair's also straight and black, but the shine doesn't look like it's been slathered in cooking grease; my twin and I are both skinny, but my skin isn't so placid. Plus, my eyes are sky blue like my Dad, not venom green like Mom.

And yet, no matter how strange it might sound, I'm far more like my Dad than I'll ever be like my Mom. My mother, Sora Tashi Seshin, detests nature and everything in it, practically forbids pets - including my albino Bengal kitten, Kana, if she leaves my room - and literally calls _A_ _nimal Control_ if there's so much as a neighbor's cat or dog on or near the large, monotone estate. My father, Daniel Seshin, always has a lot to do at work as a factory manager, but he's still nice and tries to keep Mom from flying into a rage whenever a neighbor's pet pays a surprise visit. Mostly they stop by the window near my room if the cats want to see Kana, and if possible, I bring them back to their owners before Mom or Zach sees them.

Naturally, as part of this family, I was sent to most of the same schools and camps as my fraternal twin. That's how I learned to be a tech-master, which was useful whenever I had to dismantle some of Zach's inventions that used animals as energy sources.

Yup, it's always Daddy's Girl vs. Mama's Boy in this house with me and Zach. Talk about having an evil twin.

I wore my usual dark teal long-sleeve shirt, dark green collared vest, and black jeans. Preparing to pack all my necessary things before I could doubt myself on leaving, I took out a small piece of paper and scribbled a note onto it.

 _"I'm sorry, Dad. It's time I left behind the people who couldn't find it in themselves to treat me right._

 _"~Akira"_

I left the note on my computer desk as I put in a first-aid kit and some sets of extra clothes into my Go Bag. I also put in my tablet computer, the keyboard for it, my solar charger, but not before sending a message to some friends of mine. I also threw in some things I created from whatever plans I could grab ever since I bugged Zach's mainframe - and he still doesn't know about it.(Makes me glad I always took extra computer-science classes) Just in case, I downloaded a database on survival skills and edible organisms on my tablet. I picked up my sleeping kitten from my full-size bed and put her into her carrier, packing her favorite toy: a small stick that had a string leading to a falcon feather tied to it.

I made it in a camp that Zach and I went to a few years back. That's where I met my best friend and my brother's nemesis. I smiled at the memory of Avi and her constant rivalry with my brother. That also led me to thinking of Martin and Chris Kratt, two more friends of mine who my brother hated looking at. Once, when we were kids, I had to get a bunch of stray cats out from my brother's robots. That was when they saw me and tried to help. I was glad that they saw me as someone besides Zach's twin sister.

Lost in thought, I jumped when I saw the pink jet plane landing near our backyard. _No way! I am_ not _going to be that pink demon's mannequin again!_ I rushed to open my bedroom window as quietly as possible. I heard the footsteps of my brother and Donita coming closer, discussing the fashion line I'd be modeling for. Going out the first-floor window with my bag and my cat, I rushed away. _Time to find Avi and the boys._

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?!" Zach cried. I picked up the pace, heart beginning to speed up. "Akira! Get back here!"

"You're not the boss of me, _Zachary Seshin_!" I yelled, using his full name.

"It's Zach Varmitech to you!" he screamed back. "Zach-bots, get her!"

"Get her, Dabio!" Donita ordered her blonde henchman.

As I saw the hovering shadows of the robots come closer, I swerved to dash into the backwoods behind a neighbor's house. They had a few guard dogs, and that would hopefully slow them down enough to let me get away. Rushing headfirst into the brush, I hid in the greenery, waiting for either my brother and Donita to leave, or for my friends to arrive.


	2. Chapter 1

Aviva sighed. They've been flying at the edge of the atmosphere for hours listening to Martin and Chris bicker about which animal they'd search for next. It was starting to get pretty annoying for her, Koki, and Jimmy.

"C'mon, bro! Can't we go see one of those peacocks?" Martin begged. "It's mating season! We need to see something blue at some point!"

"Martin, not many creatures are blue for a reason," Chris sighed. "We should go see one of the rainforests again to check in on our creature friends and look for creatures we haven't seen."

The brothers were interrupted when the sound of an alerting message appeared on the screen. The boys turned to the screen as Aviva brought up the message, coming from somewhere in South Carolina.

 **Kira: WKs, I need help. Running away from home. ZV & DD/D might be coming after me. Hurry Avi.**

"Kira's in trouble," Aviva summarized.

"Who's Kira?" Martin and Chris asked in unison.

"Her full name is Akira Seshin," the Latina explained. "Growing up, she always helped me out against her twin brother, Zach. She called me Avi, and I called her Kira."

"We know her then!" Martin exclaimed. "She always helped us get creatures out of Zach's robots when we were kids. Though the day after helping us, she'd always say she couldn't leave the house; something about hurting too much."

"Kira told me that her mother was awfully cruel to her for being more like her father," Aviva added. "The first day I saw her, I knew something wasn't right. Zach was always putting her down because he was the favorite of their mother, while their father was always working. According to her last private message, Kira's only had her cat, Kana, as decent company since I came along. _¡Ay no!_ Kira told me this would happen at some point, but I never prepared for it. We should go help her and get her away from her brother. Who knows what Zach or the other villains might do to her if she's caught?"

"Is this a nightmare?!" Koki spoke up as she entered the room. "You're saying we should go and _help_ someone who just _happens_ to be Zach Varmitech's _sister?_ Aviva, have you lost it?!"

"Koki, Akira was our friend, and she still is," Chris defended. "Jimmy! Head off to South Carolina! We have a friend to save!"

The gamer saluted, pizza in his mouth as he headed to the cockpit. Within minutes, the Tortuga was headed for its destination, cloaked to blend in with the sky.

At their destination, the Tortuga hovered above the small town with a mansion that had a clear monotone color scheme. They could see Dabio, Donita, Zach, and a crew of Zach-bots searching the area, despite it being almost sundown.

"That explains why Kira wanted our help," Aviva mused, heading to the main computer. "Activating thermal imaging."

The scan came up on the big-screen, displaying the signatures of the bots and the humans searching about. But one shape was hiding in the bushes, as if it was trying not to be seen.

"There. That must be where Akira's hiding," Martin pointed.

"Let's send in the FlyCam just to be sure," Koki suggested, taking out the object in question. "I may not know who this Akira is, but if you can recognize her, that's enough for me."

The brothers nodded as the FlyCam was sent off.

As the FlyCam reached ground level and went into the bushes, the screen began to show what was going on in the mass of foliage. After a bit of evading Dabio and the Zach-bots, the small machine stopped right next to a human form in the shrubbery. The mass of black hair near the lens vanished as the source of it turned to reveal a pair of cyan eyes.

"That's her," Aviva confirmed. "Kira? Kira, can you hear me?"

 _"Avi?"_ the female on the screen asked in a low voice. _"Is that you? Are the boys with you like what I've heard from the kids around here?"_

"We're right here, Akira," Martin confirmed.

"We can't get to you while Zach, Donita, and Dabio are looking for you," Chris notified.

 _"I'm aware,"_ Akira growled. _"But Zach's always had nyctophobia, so he and his friends should give up at some point."_

"Just hang tight until they're gone," Martin assured. "We'll pick you up soon."

 _"Thanks, Martin,"_ she smiled softly. _"I'll do anything to keep away from them. And if that doesn't work, I always have my defense mechanisms."_

The crew waited patiently as the FlyCam showed the villains searching everywhere but where Akira was hiding. They could see Zach growing nervous at the approaching night, and Dabio growing tired of looking.

 _"We should probably stop for the night,"_ the black-haired villain suggested. _"The sun's going down and... it would be harder to find Akira in the dark. Yeah. We wouldn't be able to find her at night 'cause uh... she wears dark clothes and has black hair like me. My Zach-bots can only search for so long. And, well... uh..."_

 _"She's better at hiding and survival skills than you ever have been or will be?"_ Donita finished, raising an eyebrow. _"I'm aware. But yes, we should turn in for the night. This has gotten tiring, and I don't appreciate being bored or missing out on any beauty sleep. Dabio, let's go."_

Zach sighed in relief before calling back his robots and headed towards the black mansion as Donita strutted toward her jet, Dabio obediently following behind her.

 _"Now's my chance,"_ Akira grinned. _"If you guys are up there in some kind of cloaking mechanism, just open a hatch when you're low enough for me to come in. Then we can all get outta here."_

"You got it, Kira," Aviva nodded before heading to the door to the cockpit. "Jimmy, lower the Tortuga till it's almost at the ground."

"We'll head down to the garage to open the door," Martin volunteered.

Outside, Akira watched as a suspicious-looking shadow slowly descended to a nearby clearing. With her things, she headed over to said shadow as a door opened, revealing Martin and Chris. The two boys gladly helped her aboard, closing the door as the Tortuga once again went to the atmosphere.


	3. Chapter 2

"It's so great to see you again, Kira," Aviva greeted her friend as she put her bag on the center table.

"Great to see you too, Avi," Akira smiled as she took out her cat, who was meowing in curiosity. "I'm glad you guys were around to get me. After all, there was no way I was going to be Donita Donata's mannequin."

"I can understand that, Akira," Martin agreed, his arm around her shoulders. "I ended up in that situation once. And believe you me, that's something I _never_ want to go through again."

"Well, that's already happened to me," Akira sighed, putting Kana down on the table. "I've been... well, basically _rented_ off on a few occasions. Though it was mostly to be Donita's mannequin or Zach's test target."

"WHAT?!" Aviva and the brothers shouted.

"Kira, why didn't you tell us about that?" Aviva demanded.

"My mother didn't allow me to," the noirette explained. "She said I deserved it for not being like her and Zach and constantly sabotaging Zach's robots when they had animals inside them. Just like when the bros and I were kids. She'd also give me a good slapping around whenever I got away from Zach or Donita. Nothing that would leave a scar, though, since that would keep Donita from using me."

"At least you're safe with us now, Akira," Chris countered. "We'll all make sure they and Gourmand don't get a hold of you. We've gone through more than enough of that already."

"Hey!" Koki exclaimed impatiently. "As much as I'd _love_ to trade sob-stories with everyone else, we need to figure out what our next adventure will be!"

"Right," Chris agreed. "How about we let Akira pick. Should we go to the Indian rainforest, or Brazilian rainforest?"

"Have you tried going to one of the deserts here in North America?" Akira asked. "Like, on purpose instead of by accident. I know about that one because Avi's been telling me about your adventures for a while now, though I only ever got pictures of her and the guys."

"That's true," Aviva agreed. "And the only reason we left was because we needed more supplies."

"Besides," Akira added, "There's a lot more to snakes than just pit vipers. It's high time you learn the importance of the kingsnakes and how powerful they can be. Besides, I hear Zach's been planning on using them to make ropes; and Donita's hoping for a royal snakeskin belt, if you know what I mean."

"Oh yes, we do," Chris nodded grimly. "Jimmy, take us to the Sonoran Desert tomorrow!"

"And don't worry about snakebites this go 'round," Martin added. "Kingsnakes have no venom, and they hopefully don't come as big as pythons or anacondas."

"They don't," Akira confirmed, bringing it up on her tablet to show a picture of a Mexican black kingsnake. "They may grow up to around 7 feet, but they're constrictors, not venomous snakes. They normally only get to be as wide as my arm, too."

"Sounds safe enough," Koki shrugged. "We've gone through more than enough deadly animals and situations for me."

Martin raised an eyebrow at the comment from the dark-skinned woman. "If this is about the Gila monster incident, you thought that up all by yourself."

* * *

The next day, the Wild Kratts and their new arrival immediately headed off to the Sonoran Desert, where a certain jet suddenly came into the Tortuga's line of sight.

 _"Hey guys,"_ a redhead boy reported on the screen from the cockpit. _"We got trouble."_ An image of a red V-shaped jet flying within three miles of the camouflaged Tortuga, which was searching for a place to land in the desert.

Akira's eyes narrowed, suddenly shaking in anger. "That little rat. That doesn't belong to Zach!"

"What are you talking about, Akira?" Martin asked, putting a hand on his friend's shoulder.

The black-haired girl sighed, the fire slightly receding from her aquamarine eyes. "That was originally a jet dumped at an aircraft boneyard that I found a few years ago, before Zach dropped out of college a year early. It was recently dropped there when I got to it, and was still in relatively good shape. I managed to work on it in my free time along with Avi, and was ready to make it my own. But I hadn't realized Zach got a cargo plane of his own from our mother, along with a few other things. When he joined the other villains, my jet vanished not long after; my security programs were pretty broken at the time. Now I know exactly who took it from me."

"I remember that jet," Aviva remembered. "You wanted to make it look like an 'A' from the top to show that we made it and no one was supposed to steal it. Of course Zach didn't get the memo there. He painted it red so we wouldn't recognize it, and it wasn't even finished yet when he stole it, so we couldn't put in the specialized solar power panels or hover thrusters. It was just a normal jet."

"Sounds like it's a double mission, then," Chris stated. "Protect the desert kingsnakes from Donita and Zach, and to help Akira get back her plane. Jimmy! Land the Tortuga when Zach's far enough away and get us ready to pull this off!"

The redhead saluted as he signed off the screen. _"Roger that."_


	4. Chapter 3

Akira and the brothers were hiding in the shadows of some cacti. With her black jeans, Akira only wore a teal T-shirt, her smoky black hair in a loose braid over her shoulder. She was even armed with Zach's invisibility cloak, which he left in the Tortuga that Aviva kept in storage. They were watching the circling jet as it looked for a safe place to land. More like _made_ one in Akira's opinion, since it was blowing away loose shrubs and cacti with its turbines so close to the ground.

"I always knew something bad was going to happen when Zach dropped out of college," Akira muttered. "At least I got plenty of good experience and a decent license as an engineer and technologist, even after my jet was stolen."

"Hey Akira," Martin asked, "what exactly was the jet before you got it from that boneyard?"

Akira looked up and recalled when she got the aircraft. "The original owners were a really wealthy family that dumped their old private jet for a newer model. I was able to get it right away before it could be scrapped. The fact that I could was convenience at its finest all by itself. I even intended to make it a mobile lab so I could invent as I pleased - basing them off creatures as opposed to using them, I might add - and keep tabs with you guys. I ended up adding in that part when you guys left home to travel the world."

"And it seems Zach had similar plans," Chris added. "Just with using creatures in his robots and trying to hurt us and our pals. Probably found it too time-consuming to get his own jet, or he was just too lazy. Whichever way, he's still pretty determined on beating you and Aviva, and he's tried to get Martin and me drowned or eaten a couple of times, too."

Akira's eyes widened before grabbing him by the collar. "He's been trying to _kill_ you?!" she whispered harshly. "Avi never told me that!"

"Aviva probably just didn't want to get you worried," Martin countered, prying her vice-grip off his brother from behind her.

"For now, let's focus on what we're doing here," Chris added, pointing at the hovering jet. "Zach's Zachbots don't have sensitive enough audio receptors to hear Zach from so high up, so he has to land to send them off. When that happens, Martin and I will activate our creature powers from our little friend in the nearby den; I'll take out the bots, and you and Martin will flush out Zach to take back your jet." The boys grabbed two Creature Power Disks as they appeared right in front of them.

Akira bit her lip. "Fine. But we'll need to talk after this is over with. Remember, constricting snakes have a higher muscle mass than venomous ones, so you should be able to take out the Zachbots with at best a few well-placed hits."

 _"Okay, I got the python power disks fine-tuned for desert kingsnakes,"_ Aviva notified over the FlyCam's holo-screen. _"The suits have the right length and muscle-mass proportions to take out those Zachbots. Are you sure you'll be able to override Zach's security system, Kira?"_

"Positive," Akira nodded. "I know my brother better than anyone, and that includes his technology. I bugged his system with a virus that can't be taken out; every time he tries, his entire system crashes for a set time of 24 hours. If I can enter a certain passcode, the Twin-Change program of my virus will activate, rerouting his entire system into my mainframe and overtaking it."

"Look," Martin pointed at the jet as it slowly descended onto the sandy ground. "Now's our chance."

The two brothers looked at the den in the rocks as the black reptile slithered out from his den. They both inserted their new power disks into their Creature Power Suits and touched the drowsing snake's long body. "Activate kingsnake powers," they intoned, pressing the buttons on their Creature Power Suits. Neon green and electric blue exploded from the suits, forming black scaly shells over the boys' bodies painted with those colors. As the glow faded, it showed them now as enormous, black snakes with arms.

"First time I ever saw Avi's CPS systems in action," Akira murmured. "She's definitely improved on her designs from Science Camp. Okay, boys, let's move."

They nodded as she flipped the hood over her head, the dark of the cloak melting into the air. Chris charged out of hiding, slithering between the Zachbots' pincer hands and slamming his tail into their most important mechanisms: balance modules, main power sources, CPU's, hover units, etc. Martin was doing the same as he and Akira slipped through the throng and onto the jet's ramp.

"What is going on out there?!" Zach demanded as he stalked outside only to be wrapped up in Martin's tail. "ACK! Wild Rats! What are you doing here?!"

"Helping out an old friend," Martin replied, tossing Zach on top of a pile of his broken robots. "And not you, by the way."

Akira dashed through the black interior of the jet. Zachbots stared around uselessly since they couldn't see the intruder. She made her way to the main computer, typing away at the keyboard to activate a certain program. The remaining Zachbots in the ship suddenly froze in place. A small, slate blue password screen appeared at the center of the enormous main screen.

 **Please Enter Passcode**

With a few more clicks of the keyboard, the small screen sported a large green check mark and a message.

 **Twin-Change Program Activated  
Rerouting Mainframe...  
Rebooting System...**

 **Twin-Change Program Complete!  
Welcome Back, ****_Akira Seshin_** **!**

"Nailed it," she praised herself silently as ultramarine washed over the red interface of the system. She flipped off the hood and contacted the Tortuga and the brothers. "Tell my brother he'll need to hail over his cargo jet if he wants any way of going anywhere. We won the day. As for you, Zachbots, bring your master away from here so he won't cause us any more trouble than he has already."

With a push of a button, the remaining Zachbots scurried out of the ship. The screen showed Zach being grabbed by his robots and taken away from the scene of their fallen comrades. The brothers and the Tortuga party cheered in victory.

"Now that I got my jet back, let's pick up where we left off," Akira suggested. "After all, I'll definitely need a way to show that this jet isn't in Varmitech industries anymore."

 _"And we'd be glad to help,"_ Aviva replied over the screen. _"Not a bad day's work, if I do say so myself, Kira."_


	5. Chapter 4

Koki still had her arms crossed even when Aviva gladly decided to help Akira. She sat in wait for at least the next hour as they watched the brothers work on the jet with the black-haired woman. "I still don't get why we're helping this girl," she growled after Aviva had signed off and started gathering her tools. "She's Zach's _sister_. And she managed to take out the entire system in Zach's jet like it was _nothing_. Why in the world would _any_ of you want to help the family of a villain we all _hate_? Wouldn't that _Akira_ turn on us at some point and head back to her brother?"

Aviva sighed. "Koki, seeing Kira as nothing more than Zach's sister is the last thing she'd ever want. Her life was _built_ on sibling rivalry, and their parents' apparent favoritism and their own personalities are way too different to ensure any sort of family bonds. I doubt someone like her would develop _any_ sort of loyalty to anyone Zach hangs with." She smiled down at Kana as the kitten jumped on top of her toolbox before picking it up and carrying it outside.

The jet was already stripped of its dark red colors outside. Using their Roadrunner Powers, the brothers were racing up and down under the wings, wielding paint rollers on long poles. Chris laid on the primer while Martin covered it in slate blue paint like on the topside, since it dried fairly quickly in the desert heat. Once that had dried, Akira placed the dark blue, paper-thin solar panels on the tops of the wings. Jimmy was also on the shady underside of the jet, applying the clear coat to the bottoms of the wings. Aviva grinned and let Kana into the jet, before climbing up to join her old friend.

"Did you install the new hover thruster?" the Latina asked as she got up to where Akira was.

The other girl finished off the solar cell she was on before looking up. "Not too long ago," she replied. "The biggest one's right where the old main turbine used to be. The other two are in the folds of the wings, to make a quick takeoff when needed."

"Sounds like a good plan to me," Aviva grinned in approval as she knelt down to set the remaining panels. "Same with these solar panels."

 _"Okay, looks like we got it all done here,"_ Martin told the girls over the Creature Pod once they finished with the solar panels. _"Ready for your test flight?"_

"More than you think, Martin," Akira nodded. "Come on, Avi. Let's see what this baby can do without the weight of my brother's ego."

Aviva laughed as they both jumped off the top and headed into the jet. Akira went up to the controls, clicking at the keyboard and monitors.

"Okay," Akira took a breath. "Power levels stable, control sensitivity at appropriate levels, wing hover thrusters ready, landing gear prepared, all steering systems operational. Ready for takeoff." She gently grabbed the yoke of the jet and pulled upward. The two girls felt the jet lift into the air above the desert. She switched power to the main thruster and pushed forward. The jet shot forward at a swift, steady pace. Akira made a few turns between a couple of clouds and flocks of birds. It seemed to be a fairly smooth ride, and the Tortuga was just in reach of the radar.

"Where'd you get this good at flying planes?" Aviva asked.

"I sorta had to get good at it, Avi," Akira replied as she circled back to the same place they took off, gently landing down on the ground. "I usually hijacked Donita's plane to fly myself home, and there are always maps and flying manuals _all over_ the controls. I'm guessing that means Dabio's usually the one flying the jet."

Martin came into the cockpit, laughing at that last sentence. "Yup, that sounds like Dabio. And Akira, that was a great test flight. I know you'll do way better with this jet than Zach ever could. Just hoping you don't start doing something like dump black goop down a river."

Akira's face paled slightly. "Black goop down a river? Uh... I'm pretty sure that the majority of it was old ink from a bunch of exploding ink pens I sneaked onto the cargo jet on an April Fool's day. Guess all of them had popped at once and got all over the plane. Sorry if it caused any trouble, guys."

 _"I knew it!"_ Koki's voice rang out angrily, startling the three of them. _"A chemical disaster had nearly decimated an entire pond because of_ you _! Aviva, Martin, get back here so I can send her off with the Angry Turtle Sequence!"_

 _"Whoa there, Koki,"_ Chris grabbed her shoulders as the screen appeared. _"If it was supposed to be an April Fool's prank that wasn't cleaned up, Zach's still the one at fault. At this point, I'm wondering if you just want to find a way to make Akira leave."_

Koki looked about to blow up at him, and she soon did. _"WHAT DO YOU THINK?! I DON'T WANT TO SEE_ HIDE _NOR_ HAIR _OF ZACH'S_ TWIN SISTER _! THAT'S_ ALL _I'LL EVER SEE IN THAT GIRL AND YOU CAN'T CHANGE_ ANY _PART OF IT!"_ The African American wrenched herself free and tapped furiously at the keyboard. The screen disappeared as a metallic roar sounded from outside.

"She activated the Angry Turtle Sequence!" Aviva cried. "We have to get out of here before -!" She was cut off when the jet started shaking, a red-windowed Tortuga taking up the left side of the monitor.

"We're out of here!" Akira exclaimed, shaking the jet free from the Tortuga's jawplates and taking to the sky. When they were in the middle atmosphere, Akira finally set it on autopilot, slumping back against the pilot chair. "I can't believe that friend of yours just sees me as Zach's sister. Does she hate me that much just because of my family?"

Martin gently wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "She probably does. I can't believe Koki would do something like this."

"Same here," Aviva agreed. "We may not be fond of your brother, but we know that you're far from being like him. Koki's always pulled some mean tricks, and a lot of times she can get obsessed about her priorities, but _this_... _This_ is a new low even for her."

"Let's hope Chris can somehow make her see the real me, Avi," Akira frowned. "But until then, I don't think she'll allow any of us within ten miles of your Tortuga."


	6. Chapter 5

It went without saying that Chris and Jimmy were horrified when Koki attacked Akira's jet with their teammates inside. After the jet disappeared from their sight and radar, Koki deactivated the Angry Turtle Sequence and marched to the cockpit with a look of cruel satisfaction, ousting Jimmy to the main room as the Tortuga took off a different direction than the jet.

"Unbelievable," Chris breathed. "Koki just attacked and chased off our old friend with Aviva and my brother on her jet."

"It's like she didn't care if she hurt Aviva or Martin," Jimmy added. "She just hated that Akira girl enough not to care about putting either of them in danger."

"And with what she said..." Chris trailed off, still shell-shocked about Koki's hateful, raging outburst towards Akira. The way she _screamed_ at him just because he wanted her to be nice to Akira. "She doesn't want to see anything concerning Akira, and... we won't be able to change what she sees in her."

"Maybe we should stay here and wait for Koki to cool off," Jimmy suggested, pulling some cold pizza from his mini-fridge. "Want a slice? You can tell me about her story with you and Martin."

Chris nodded, taking a slice. "Well, it all started when Martin and I were kids. Zach lived down the block from our house, so we often had to make sure he didn't get away with using animals for his robots. From time to time, we'd see this girl take apart his robots with a crowbar, and free the animals every time he wasn't looking. Afterwards, she'd get shoved into the ground by Zach, and soon hit in the head and face with a paddle by this woman who we could only assume was her mother. The girl always ran off before we could go help her, and there was no there evidence about her mother's beatings besides us seeing through a back window. We didn't even find out her name until later on. But before then, it was when Zach called the lady 'Mom' did we realize that the girl was his sister."

Jimmy listened with interest as he munched his pizza. "She was hit by her own mother _and_ Zach? Harsh. When did you find out her name?"

Chris explained between bites of his pizza. "It was when Zach had this weird fetish with making guard robots big enough for a kid our size, at the time, to ride on. He also had a thing for cats, so he used all stray cats in our neighborhood and put them in robots the size of great Danes or St. Bernards, hiding them in his family's garage. Since we normally fed the strays, we knew something was up when they weren't around and started looking for them.

"Sure enough, we found that same girl rushing into her family's garage, and the cats were in the chest areas of around six robots. She was dismantling the robots with her crowbar and freeing the cats, and we decided to help her. When she first saw us, she looked a little skittish, but calmed down when we said we wanted to help her out. She agreed, and tossed Martin a monkey wrench and me an old pipe to pry the cats free. After we freed them, we introduced ourselves. She thanked us for helping, and the three of us planned to have her come visit us another day. Our mom was happy to meet her, especially after hearing what she'd been doing for so long; we even invited her to stay at our house when the beatings got really bad."

Jimmy hummed. "No wonder you guys said you were close. And Aviva said she and Akira went to most of the same school and summer things."

Chris nodded in confirmation as he finished his pizza slice. "And I wouldn't be surprised if they collaborated a lot of times as fellow engineers."

* * *

Martin sat on the floor just behind the doorway to the jet's cockpit, halfheartedly playing with Kana. He watched his two engineer friends at the pilot and shotgun chairs, like a vigilant flier and her trusty copilot.

"Hey, Akira," he asked, "what are we going to do now? Koki won't be letting us back to the Tortuga anytime soon, and Chris and Jimmy are stuck with her. I don't think they'll be able to convince her you're a good person without any help."

"My thoughts exactly," the pale girl replied. "That's why we're going after my brother and his compadres, anywhere they turn up. If we can put the brakes on all of them without any help, we can prove to Koki that I'm not the bad guy here. Avi, you got anything?"

"Donita Donata heading to somewhere around either Africa or Asia," she replied. "What could be there that she'd be after?"

"She's gone after cheetahs, draco lizards, lemurs, monkeys, and every colored creature in China," Martin recalled. "What else would she want to make into next season's fashion line?

"How 'bout something that never changes its spots?" Akira suggested, bringing up a big cat on the monitor. "Behold, the leopard. Able to be found in just about all of Africa but the Sahara, and just about the entire bottom half of Asia. The most prevalent big cat in the world with just about the most subspecies among itself as well; that means plenty of spot patterns to choose from. And she's playing smart this time, since they're considered problematic animals in most cities, and they aren't exactly on the urgent part of the endangered species list."

"And one of the big cats we seriously should've gone for," Martin added with a grin. "Perfect!"

"But I don't have anything to make a Creature Power Suit for a leopard," Aviva pointed out. "How are we going to make one without even the MIK?"

"Avi, remember when you sent me your Creature Power Suit digital blueprints in case my brother tried hacking your systems?" Akira asked. "Well, I analyzed the blueprints between my other 'occupations' and made one of my own. I never really had much chance to make the suit itself, let alone any discs. However, I might be able to make discs with what I have in the jet."

Aviva broke into a smile. "Kira, you are our hero! Thanks to you, we'll be able to make this whole thing work without a problem!"


End file.
